


A Realignment of Priorities

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Being a compilation of stories based on another fanfic, Other, Unlikely to become sexually explicit, Will contain sexual themes here and there, but that could change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-03 21:09:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20665799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: Lightshaft wants to make Brockton Bay a better place, even if it means working outside boundaries of the law.But all else is subject to change.Where did she come from? What secret abilities does she hide behind her almost painfully straightforward veneer? What sort of new hero will rise to oppose her, and will she be able to meet the challenge? Will this new opponent find the words that will threaten her resolve where the taunts of other foes have failed? What new dangers await in the ever-changing cape landscape of the Bay?Who - or what - is Lightshaft?And why don't you ever see her and Amy Dallon, Annette Hebert, Ash Beast, Bambina, Carol Dallon, Ciara, Crystal Pelham, Dinah Alcott, Doctor Mother, Eden, Emily Piggot, Eric Pelham, Faultline, Kayden Anders, Lisa Wilbourn, Rebecca Costa-Brown, Rey Andino, Riley, Sarah Manton, the Simurgh, Skitter, Thomas Calvert, Valkyrie, Victoria Dallon, or Whirlygig in the same place at the same time? That's pretty suspicious if you ask me.





	1. Chirality - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Change In Priorities](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20067835) by [WestOrEast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WestOrEast/pseuds/WestOrEast). 

> Let's face it, it was pretty much inevitable that I'd end up playing around with WestOrEast's A Change In Priorities. After all, I'd already been thinking about different things after the idea originally came up in his thread. I'm not sure I could actually write my original suggestion... but who knows what the future may hold. Rather than post things under separate titles, I've decided to just cluster everything together like this.
> 
> Now, before anyone says anything, I realize that Lightshaft is actually Brandish's secondary costumed identity, but I'm going to be going with Annette anyway. No matter how unlikely that is, the dramatic possibilities are just too much for me to pass up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Well, I say I'm going with Annette, but when I read the second batch of chapters, an alternate identity for Lightshaft that made a startling amount of sense came to me, and I've decided to explore that first. This will change things for more people than just Taylor, of course, but I've decided to focus on showing how her life is affected when she's out of costume, because that's where most of the interesting stuff is. There'll be hints of what other people are up to as well of course.

Later that night, I sat on my bed and thought about the evening's events.

Lightshaft had been interrupted before she could achieve her goals. But she'd also escaped cleanly.

One out of two was, to be honest, not that great. Okay, I was safe. I knew that wasn't anything to scoff at, not when I didn't have the sort of safety net that the more organized heroes did. It still didn't feel like an impressive night's work.

Especially when I hurt all over like this. That woman really packed a whallop. Sure, I could blame the power interactions for some of it, and I don't think I'd even be lying to myself when I did it... but the simple fact was, getting beaten up sucked, and it didn't really suck less just because it wasn't the first time I'd experienced it.

And then there had been the spanking.

That had been...

That was...

I wasn't really prepared to think about that right now.

I looked up on reflex when I heard mom's car pulling into the driveway, even though my windows were facing the wrong way to see anything. It was really late, wasn't it?

Ever since Dad died, Mom had been spending more time at work. I suppose technically that made caping easier, but I still wished we could spend more time together. But instead of that happening, she'd started coming home even later.

If I'd been a spouse instead of a daughter, I think I might have wondered if she was seeing someone.

Maybe in some ways that would be better than what was happening now.

Maybe ten minutes later, Mom knocked on the doorframe. "Still up, Taylor?" she asked. Of course the answer was obvious, since my door had been open.

I yawned a bit as I stood up. "Just doing a little more reading before going to bed," I replied. It was true. More or less. "How was college?"

"The same as it ever was," Mom said with a sigh. "A lot of work, a lot of boredom. But at least I get to come home to you."

It wasn't the first time she'd said that to me, but usually it was enough to bring a smile to her face. Not today, though. Work must have been worse than usual, even if I could tell she wouldn't want to talk about it.

"Shouldn't you be going to bed?" Mom asked. "You have school tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right," I replied. "But you should probably go to bed soon yourself?"

"Who's the parent here?" This time she smiled a bit. "Don't you worry about me, Taylor."

"Parents are family," I said as I went over and gave her a hug. "I'm allowed to worry a bit too."

"Mmm. Well, I promise I'll be in bed within thirty minutes."

"I'll hold you to that, young lady," I said in a mock-stern tone, which got me a laugh. As we both let go I added, "Good night, Mom."

"Good night, Taylor," she said as she turned and left.

I didn't have much of anything left to do before I went to bed myself. I put my book away, tidied up a couple things, and then it was lights out.

As I lay in bed, I thought about telling Mom about being a superhero. It wasn't the first time I'd considered just going ahead and telling her, or telling Emma, but the answer was always the same - right now, it would complicate things too much. Maybe someday, but not now.

The conclusion didn't feel any more satisfying than it did the last time I'd thought it.

***

The next afternoon, I was sitting in front of one of Winslow's computers.

I'd always liked computer class. Not to an obsessive degree, but I liked computer stuff in and of itself. And then once we were done with our assignments, Mrs. Knott pretty much didn't care what we did as long as we didn't actually mess up the computers.

I didn't want to do too much cape stuff from home -or- school, but being able to do a little research during the day was convenient.

There wasn't anything about last night's fight that I could find, at least not with what I was willing to do at school. I suppose it wasn't surprising. It probably wasn't even obvious that Lightshaft had been involved. She wasn't the only one who might have decided to do some unauthorized redecoration of that church by a long shot, and I bet no one else had any reason to suspect there'd been another cape there.

Not much of a debut, no matter how you looked at it.

The rest of the period passed without my finding anything else of particular note. I was pretty much just reading random threads on PHO about capes I'd probably never meet when the bell rang. One more class, and then school would be over for the day.

And it was a class that I shared with Emma. Even though we weren't as close as we had been several years ago, having her there was still enough to liven up what would otherwise be a boring cap to the day.

The crowd of students spread out and mingled with other classes as we steped into the hallway, but I got the impression that the crowd was a bit thinner than usual.

Then I rounded the corner and saw where everyone else had gone to. A ring of people had formed in the center of the hallway, maybe eight or nine students yelling and jeering. More and more were piling up on either side, not able to get past the fight.

And it was a real fight. Sophia Hess was going at it with some skinhead bitch. In the crowd behind her, I saw Madison and some of her other friends cheering her on, urging her to smash the neo-Nazi. The skinhead was supported by her own group of thugs, half of them cheering her on, and the other insulting Sophia for being black.

I'd loathed Sophia Hess almost from the moment we'd first met, and the feeling was mutual. She'd even tried to turn Emma against me at one point. That, at least, hadn't gone so well for her. But in the past year we'd settled into a routine of ignoring each other whenever possible and staring daggers at each other when we couldn't.

For the moment I held myself back from glaring. If there was one thing in this school I hated more than Sophia, it was the Nazis. I certainly didn't want anyone to think I was in with them because I couldn't keep myself from giving that jackal a few dirty looks. Hell, in this fight I'd even cheer her on.

In my head.

While walking briskly in the other direction.

Really, I'm sure Sophia herself would agree that was the best way for both of us.

Not that I'd shed any tears if the skinhead took Sophia down with her, of course. But I didn't really expect that to happen. So I just concentrated on finding an alternate route to my next class.

I was really looking forward to summer. If nothing else, I really felt that my life -would- be complete without the usual floor show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chirality - I've actually got a complete set of this manga. I picked it up after reading that Ragnarock City was sort of a sequel to it, but I had a hard time following the art style. I'd like to give it another shot sometime, but it's one of many things still buried in all the boxes after I moved.
> 
> I'm allowed to worry a bit too. - Sorta inspired by things I've noticed myself feeling towards my own parents as I've grown older. Although since we don't live in the same place anymore it doesn't come up that often.


	2. Chirality - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that Lightshaft is actually a rebranded Laserdream, whose powers changed after her second trigger...
> 
> Wait a second, that actually has potential.

I did not normally indulge in cape-themed porn when I masturbated.

It wasn't that I didn't see any appeal in the theme. But when you combine the absurdity of a lot of porn in general with the absurdity of a lot of cape-themed media, it was just too much for me to take most days. And I didn't like some of the assumptions that got encoded into a lot of it.

But there were exceptions. And as I sat there looking at a comic of some fictional superheroine giving a blowjob to the thugs that had defeated her, I couldn't deny that I felt a spark of something inside me.

There was still something about it that I didn't like though. So I kept digging.

After a while I found a live action video that I liked a bit more. In this one the villainess (who I was sure carefully didn't particularly resemble any real cape) had the superheroine (same) at her mercy, something that I didn't think would normally lead to sexual pleasure on anyone's part in the real world. The heroine being strapped to a large unidentifiable machine was a bit more plausible. Maybe the villain was supposed to be a tinker?

Eh, it was good enough for now.

...

Actually...

this was...

really good...

(And the machine was functional after all. That part really took me by surprise. It wasn't plausible, but it was hot and by then I didn't really care about anything else.)

And then...

And then...

The door opened. "Taylor, do you-"

I might, just might, have had a chance of feigning that I was doing something else - anything else - if I hadn't jerked my head backwards when Mom startled me. My clothes weren't -too- disheveled, and my desk was against the same wall that the door was on, so she couldn't see everything right away.

If only my earbuds hadn't stayed so firmly on my head that instead of being pulled off of me, they pulled out of the front panel jack on my computer, which obligingly sent the audio to the speakers instead. Immediately the heroine's moans filled the room, the actress playing her having long since abandoned any pretense of not enjoying her situation.

Maybe as a superhero I should be more resistant to surprises like this, but damn it, there are just some places and circumstances where you expect to be safe letting your guard down. And so I found myself frozen with shock and embarrassment as Mom leaned over to take a look at what I had on the screen.

For a moment, her face went white.

Then it went even redder than mine - or redder than mine felt anyway.

And then she carefully backed out of the room and pulled the door closed.

Well so much for -that- masturbation session.

***

Once I'd gotten cleaned up I went downstairs, where I found Mom sitting at the kitchen table giving the far wall a thousand-yard stare.

Honestly, I felt like I ought to be the one doing that here, but all right. "Mom?" I said quietly as I set down.

It wasn't that all of this should be a surprise to her. I'd already talked to her about it when I realized I was interested in girls. (Which had been a while after -Emma- had realized it... God, that might have been even more embarrassing than this was.) And when she'd given me advice about being careful online, some comments about porn sites had been included.

No, none of it should have been a surprise to her in the general sense, but she'd never walked in on me masturbating before and I had been very happy with that state of affairs.

Oh, and the cape bondage thing. That was new. And came with an entire set of additional reasons to not want to talk about it.

Finally Mom spoke up. "That must require a lot of trust," she said.

"It probably does," I replied. "They try to make look like it just happens, but I don't think some of it would work unless both people-"

I forced myself to shut my mouth there. I didn't want to talk about this. I was rapidly losing the desire to think about it. I -really- didn't want to talk about this with my MOM. I hadn't even learned about any of that for sexual reasons! How had it come to this?!

"Is there... anyone you trust that much, Taylor?"

Wasn't there a cape out in Nevada that actually had the power to make the ground swallow them at will? That power sounded great right about now.

***

Finally, it was over.

Or at least, the easy part was over. Now came the hard part, trying to forget that the time Mom offered to buy sex toys for me had ever happened.

Really, that was one of the last things I needed help with.

Oh, and I'd finally learned why Mom had originally come to my door. She was caught up on work and wanted to know if I wanted to go shopping with her. Honestly that sounded a lot better than staying at home right now, especially since I'd probably end up wondering if mom was wondering if I'd... picked up where I'd left off.

No. No no no no no. Getting outside sounded great right now.

As I got changed into better market-visiting clothes, I heard a chime from my phone indicating that I had a text from Emma. I checked, and it was a link to another editorial about Lightshaft.

That wasn't particularly unusual coming from her. The summer before we'd started high school, Emma and her dad had a run-in with the ABB that had looked like it was going to go badly, but Lightshaft had stepped in before either could get hurt. Since then, she'd had a crush...

Well, that wasn't the right word. I was pretty sure Emma was straighter than an arrow. Maybe it'd be better to call her a zealot. Even after Lightshaft had been labeled a villain (if not a particularly high-priority one by the PRT's standards), Emma remained her staunch defender to anyone who would listen, and whenever she ran into positive coverage she'd send it around to her friends like this.

It was kind of ironic... but it didn't really change anything for me.

***

I always had to smile whenever I saw Laserdream.

It wasn't just that I was grateful for the time she'd saved me - although I was, don't get me wrong. But I also admired what she did, what her entire family did.

It was easy to dismiss a lot of New Wave's activities as PR. Appearances like this included, even.

I didn't see it that way. Believing in heroes... that was something that mattered. They could be twice as effective because people trusted them to do the right thing... and maybe knowing who might be waiting for them if they tried anything would make those with less savory inclinations less likely to try their luck.

I'd like it if I could do things the way they did, but it seemed like the best way for me to help the city was from the shadows... even if that did sound like a bad joke.

Mom was giving Lady Photon some odd looks as we walked away. I wondered what that was about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For someone who writes about people being embarrassed as often as I do, I sure can never remember how to spell it or any other word beginning with "embarrass". I misspelled both of those while writing this note, even.
> 
> desk was against the same wall - Taylor's room got rearranged mostly because of how I ended up visualizing things, but... really? Having the computer placed so that someone could come up behind you when you're going to be looking at porn? It didn't take me long to rearrange my room so no one could surprise me when -I- started being interested in looking at porn, and moving my desk isn't a task for the faint of heart.
> 
> the power to make the ground swallow them at will - This was not intended as a reference to Hulder from Mauling Snarks, I was thinking more with rocks and stuff. Although Aisha's power (whether from canon or MS) might seem even better than rocks.


	3. Chirality - Epilogue? - Once More Unto the Breach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to precede this by saying that I refuse to name any non-teleporter Jaunt.
> 
> Hmmm. Who cares who or what Lightshaft is, in this AU Strider is named Jaunt and Taylor can be Strider.
> 
> ... Naaah, let's not do that. That would just make things extra confusing at this point.

Sometimes I wondered what I thought I was doing.

I had a child. Yes, she was almost an adult by now, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt her terribly if something happened to me.

Yes, the rules are supposed to keep capes from killing each other. That didn't mean it didn't happen, or that there weren't other dangers that could befall me every time I went out there.

("Other dangers", hah.)

Did I really have any business dressing up in some silly costume and going out fighting crime?

But I just couldn't bring myself to just stand idly by. People say "anyone can make a difference", but powers changed things. I could do more, do things other people couldn't... and that meant I should do more, didn't it?

Saying that didn't really provide me with a lot of comfort.

At least I knew that if something happened to me, Zoe and Alan would take care of Taylor.

***

It was no big surprise that Alan Barnes had become one of my first and steadiest allies. Not when one of the first things I'd done as a cape had been to save him and his daughter from a group of gang members. Learning that I was an old family friend had only sealed the deal, although we'd both agreed not to tell Emma about that connection, or about most of the things he'd done to assist me. Little of it was -exactly- illegal, but as one of the only other people who knew my real identity, hiding our connection was vital.

Without his help arranging for this little safehouse would have been difficult, if not impossible. I simply didn't have the right skills or contacts. As it was, I still had to be cautious in how I used it, but it made life so much simpler, having a private space to do things and store equipment that I wouldn't be able to keep at home.

This would be so much easier if I wasn't trying to hide being a cape from... no. Now wasn't the time for that.

As I always did when I had the chance to do so in private, I watched in the mirror as I triggered the change. At first I'd been trying to understand how it worked. That had unsurprisingly failed, but by now it'd become a kind of ritual, watching the contours of my face change, my limbs (and chest) fill out, and so forth.

And also there was the part where I grew a fully functional penis for some reason. I really didn't know what was with that. No matter who I'm attracted to, I'm still a woman, damn it!

I wasn't a full shapeshifter, which was a bit sad but would probably get a lot of people overexcited if it got out so maybe it was just as well. Just my real body and this alternate form. But being able to do all my caping wearing a different face than my own was better protection for my identity than any mask could ever be. I still wore one, of course.

I've heard that just being able to hide your face and name changes the way people act, even without bringing powers into the mix. I wasn't entirely sure of that, but I knew what I did changed more than just my appearance. It wasn't that I became a different person or anything like that, but it was easier to put aside my usual worries and focus on the needs of the moment.

And, as I had recently discovered, easier to give into bad impulses. No matter how much fun playing around with that new hero was in the moment, it was a bad idea in so many ways. It was something I needed to work on.

But this wasn't the time for that either.

***

After what had happened at Winslow today...

Maybe I couldn't do anything about that in particular. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do something.

***

What had happened at school just didn't add up, and from the way Shadow Stalker had reacted I'm sure she thought the same.

We were being played.

But there were still too many unknowns. I intended to have some answers, one way or another.

***

Maybe Annette Hebert couldn't help here.

***

Taylor Hebert's problems could wait. I was called a villain, but I'd long since dismissed that as irrelevant.

***

But Specter could.

***

It was time for Lightshaft to show the real scum what they'd won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chirality - The name was inspired by the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirality_(mathematics)]mathematical concept of chirality[/url] - non-identical mirror images. The thing about the manga was true, just irrelevant. Of course, that's why I didn't say that was the source of the name.
> 
> I came up with this idea when I was looking at the second batch of chapters and said to myself "Taylor doesn't really seem very Skitter-like in her approach to caping here. Actually Lightshaft seems more Skitter-like. ... Wait a minute." Thus came the story of Lightshaft!Taylor, who can buy her own sex toys. At least if it's a place that just goes "eh, you look old enough" and doesn't check ID all the time.
> 
> And of course if Taylor is Lightshaft, Annette must be [s]Jaunt[/s] Specter, right?
> 
> Other dangers - Getting groped by Lightshaft, for instance.
> 
> it was a bad idea in so many ways - I've made my feelings about what Lightshaft does being -wrong- plain enough [s]which doesn't mean I'm finished[/s], but it also sounds really unsafe and a bad idea even without that part and I just can't ignore it.
> 
> We were being played - My thought processes on this are something like "So, it looks like the government doing it. But we've got Sophia texting, and we know Sophia is Shadow Stalker, so she's probably texting the PRT. Which is a government agency. So the government probably isn't behind this, even if government assets are being used. Which means something tricky is going on." Which may or may not be true even in this AU, but it's what inspired this part.


	4. Three Parahumans Means One-Third the Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This omake was originally posted in the "A Change In Priorities" thread on QQ, with the description "Inspired by the best poll option." Said poll being "Who Do You Think Lightshaft Is?"

"But first... I'll have to spank you!" Lightshaft said.

Wait, what the hell?

"Hey! That's lewd!" Lightshaft objected.

"Of course it's lewd," Lightshaft replied. "That's what makes it so fun."

"Um, I don't think this is a very good idea..." Lightshaft interjected.

As Lightshaft continued arguing with herself (???), I got up, dusted myself off, and waited for her to make a move.

Which she didn't, unless the random twitching as the argument continued counted as a move.

Finally, I sighed, put my hand up to her collar, and began filling the inside of her robes with shadows.

"Hey! That tickles!"

"Oooooh... not on the first date!"

"I told you this was a bad idea!"

Strange, it felt like there was a lot more room in there than there should be. Actually...

The robes burst off, revealing three much smaller girls, each (probably thankfully) in a costume and mask of their own, who were immediately shoved to the ground and pinned to the ground.

I looked down on them and sighed. Just kids? So much for the fantastic debut to my superhero career. "Look, don't do things like this anymore, okay? Kids like you should be home in bed at this hour, not doing..." I looked around and frowned. "...whatever you were trying to do here."

"Hey! I'm not a kid!" the shortest one retorted.

"I am," the taller one said.

I sighed again and started walking away.

"Wait!" I heard one of them call. "At least tell me your name so I can look you up on CapeDating.org!"

Correction. I started running away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The answer, of course, is "Bambina, Riley and Dinah standing on each other's shoulders"


End file.
